UTSA volleyball was defeated by Rice University 3-0 on Sunday at the Convocation Center.
The Roadrunners’ (8-17, 2-10 AAC) offense was aggressive, notching 35 kills. The Owls (15-6, 10-2 AAC) were superior with 54 kills, earning the win in three sets. The game was close in points, but UTSA could not close out each set, 25-23, 25-21, 25-22.
“Really good match against arguably the top team in the conference,” coach Carol Price-Torok said. “I thought we did some really great things. We had some great games from Peyton defensively and some great stuff from our outsides. Good stuff from Mia Soerensen. We just couldn’t quite finish the sets. Kind of a tough one to swallow, I felt like we did everything right.”
The first set was tight; there was not a lead bigger than two points in the whole set. Owls outside hitter Samarah Hill served, which was received by sophomore libero Peyton Turner. The ball went out of the court, was saved by sophomore setter Annika Sokol and was pushed over by freshman outside hitter Ally Tribe.
The ball was dug up by Rice. Owls middle blocker Kaitlyn Knobbe was set up for the attack, but she was blocked by senior middle blocker Alicia Coppedge and junior outside hitter Caroline Krueger. Sokol picked the ball up and set for Krueger. She tapped the ball over and Rice watched as it fell to the floor.
The ‘Runners took a quick lead at the start of the second set. When Krueger was up to serve for the third time, Rice received it and set outside hitter Katrina Jensen up for the attack. Soerensen and Coppedge saw the attack and roofed Jensen. The Roadrunners stuffed the Owls two more times in the second set. It was not enough as Rice took a lead of five in the set; UTSA could not close the gap.
The ‘Runners took a four-point lead in the third set, but the Owls took it back halfway through the set.
Soerensen led the team with 10 kills, Tribe had eight kills and middle blocker Kai Bailey and Krueger both had six. Turner had 13 digs; Tribe and Sokol had nine digs. The Roadrunners struggled offensively with 14 attack errors, although Rice beat them with 20 attack errors. Both teams had five service errors.
“We are all trusting the process, it is hard to lose but we know we are capable of winning,” Turner said.
UTSA will play the University of Memphis at 6 p.m. Friday at Convocation Center.
